1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns creating a virtual print market place for providing print services, such as photo print services, over a computer network. More particularly, the present invention relates to the creation of a virtual print market place wherein service providers are selected to provide print services to interactive sites, or shops, based on criteria established by the interactive shops as well as market information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a traditional photographic processing arrangement, a roll of exposed film is dropped off at a photo shop or other retail outlet along with an order designating the desired number and type of prints. The photo shop forwards the film and order to a film processor where the prints are generated along with a set of negatives which are returned to the photo shop where they are picked up by the buyer.
More recently, a buyer may opt to have digital images created from the exposed film so that the images may be loaded onto a computer system. In addition, it is possible to take a picture using a digital camera that captures the image in a digital format that may be uploaded to a computer system. A hard copy image such as a picture may also be scanned to capture a digital image of the picture which may be stored on a computer system. Regardless of the manner in which a digital image is created, once stored on a computer system, the digital image may be displayed and manipulated using software resident on the system (i.e., Adobe Photo Shop).
It is also possible to generate a print out of the digital image using a black and white or color printer connected to the computer system. However, printers cannot provide the same quality as that provided by a film processor. It is therefore still beneficial to be able to order a photographic quality hard copy (e.g., photographic prints). Since the digital images are stored on the computer, it would be beneficial to be able to select the digital images and place an order such that both the order and the digital image are sent via a computer network to the film processor or other processing entity. In so doing, it would be possible to obtain a print or other hard copy (e.g., mugs, T-shirts, photos, etc.) that is of higher quality than printer output or otherwise cannot be generated using a printer.
One such scheme is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,157, assigned to PictureVision, Inc., which provides a method for distributing digital prints produced from digital images. An image server stores digital images and related information. An authorized user may access the digital image to order a print from the developer or fulfillment center associated with the digital image. The developer or fulfillment center maintains control over the products ordered from the digital images by completing a price sheet identifying the products to offer and the prices for the products. Initially, an upload interface is used to upload digital images from a photographer or a film developer. Where a photographer uploads the digital images, the photographer selects one of the fulfillment centers to fulfill all orders placed using the images uploaded by the photographer. Anyone authorized to access a digital image may place an order using an order interface that consists of the price sheet of the developer or fulfillment center associated with the digital image.
A problem with this approach is that it is designed to allow the film developer and fulfillment center to retain control over the products offered for the digital images produced from rolls of film submitted to them and the prices of these products. That is, the products and services provided by the image server are controlled by and determined as a result of the digital images that are uploaded to the image server as well as the film developer or fulfillment center. Thus, it is not possible, for example, for the image server to ensure that a certain level or type of product and/or service is provided with respect to digital images that are stored on the image server.
With the advent of the Internet, also referred to as the World Wide Web or Web, various Web sites provide the ability to upload digital images to an image server and to order prints of the uploaded digital images. Traditionally-established business relationships or alliances between photo print vendors and Web image servers allow the image servers to offer photo print products and services provided by the photo print vendor. A disadvantage of this approach is that the image server site relies on these traditionally-established business relationships. It is not possible for the image server or the photo print vendors to form or modify these business relationships dynamically or interactively.
A computerized quotation system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,328 issued to Giovannoli wherein a potential buyer of a product or service generates a request for quotation (“RFQ”) which is forwarded to a centralized quotation system. Under the system architecture described, there is no centralized product/service database. Rather, each vendor maintains its own product/service database and the quotation system forwards the RFQ to potential vendors. The vendors respond by supplying quotations that are forwarded to the buyer. The buyer uses the forwarded quotations to select a vendor from whom the buyer purchases the product or service. The buyer, quotation system and vendor may each set filter conditions that are used to determine which of the vendors receive an RFQ and which of the quotations supplied by the vendor are forwarded to the buyer. Using this approach, the buyer determines which vendor is to be selected from those vendors whose quotations were forwarded to the buyer by the quotation system. There is no mechanism provided that would allow an image server to control vendor selection and/or the product or service that is to be provided by a given vendor.
Accordingly, what is needed is an ability to dynamically create a relationship between image servers and print product suppliers which allows the image server to maintain control over the photo print products and/or services that it offers to its users (e.g., photographer or others who upload images to the image server), and to allow these relationships to be transferred such that the print products and/or services may be provided by other suppliers to other image servers.